27 countries are members of the European Union. If Chancellor Scholz has his way, there could be a lot more. He advocates the admission of the Eastern European accession candidates - under certain conditions.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz advocates a significant expansion of the European Union with a view to its geopolitical role. "An EU with 27, 30, 36 states with then more than 500 million free and equal citizens can bring their weight to bear even more in the world," said the SPD politician in Berlin at the congress of the party family of European Social Democrats (SPE). The EU currently has 27 member states with a total of almost 450 million inhabitants.
Scholz said that in a world with almost ten billion people, the EU would have the largest single market, leading research institutions, innovative companies and stable democracies and could better represent its values. "I am committed to the expansion of the EU. The fact that the EU continues to grow towards the East is a win for all of us," he emphasized.
However, accession candidates such as Ukraine, Moldova, the Western Balkan states and, in the future, Georgia would also have to meet the criteria for accession. The EU itself must make itself fit through reforms in order to become receptive. Scholz again called for the gradual transition from unanimity in foreign and tax policy decisions in the EU-27 to majority decisions. The SPE had also called for this in its Berlin declaration.
